Germany - Turkey Dual Match in Hannover

18.05.2011

The German and the Turkish men's squads (Photo: Mr. Peter Ritter)

Two traditionally strong boxing nations from the European Boxing Confederation fought each other in a friendly encounter to prepare for upcoming major international events. Ten bouts were held between the German and the Turkish men's squads in Hannover on 29 April.

AIBA World Championships bronze medalist 25-year-old Ronny Beblik was the biggest absentee in the German team while the powerful Sipal brothers also had to miss the dual match on the Turkish side.

On the opening contest of the friendly encounter Turkey's European Championships bronze medalist Ferhat Pehlivan performed well again and defeated local Andre Stoika by 13:5. The 23-year-old Turkish boxer is in excellent form and has a great chance of qualifying for the London Olympic Games.

In Ronny Beblik's absence European Youth Championships bronze medalist Hamza Touba defeated Turkish Prime Ministry Tournament silver medalist Selcuk Eker by a close 12:8 in their flyweight contest. Both boxers were born in 1991 but have enough international experience to compete well in the next major events.

Bantamweight's defending European Champion Denis Makarov, who was born in Kazakhstan but has been fighting for Germany for some years, had a very hectic but successful contest against Turkey's Beijing Olympian Furkan Memis Ulas, who missed the Turkish National Championships in December to save his power for upcoming major events.

Feliks Stamm Tournament winner Fatih Keles claimed only a silver medal at the last Turkish Nationals but was too strong for European Championships bronze medalist Eugen Burhard in the lightweight contest.

AIBA Youth World Championships bronze medalist 19-year-old Thomas Vahrenholdt also had a close contest in the friendly encounter against Turkey's Cetin Ozdemir in the light welterweight class which finished with a narrow German victory.

Germany's two-time National Champion and rising power 20-year-old Patrick Wojcicki continued the host's winning series and defeated veteran Abdulkadir Koroglu by 14:9 in the welterweight division.

In the middleweight bout of the friendly encounter Beijing Olympian and AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Adem Kilicci of Turkey triumphed over Germany's No.1 Stefan Haertel by 12:11.

At light heavyweight AIBA Youth World Championships silver medalist 21-year-old Enrico Koelling of Germany hammered Turkey's inexperienced Avni Yildirim who failed to reach the Top 8 at Turkish National Championships in Mersin last December.

Beijing Olympian and former European Junior Championships silver medalist Bahram Muzaffer has been fighting for a place on the Turkish top team but lost to Umit Can Patir at the Nationals. Muzaffer's experience was enough to beat Gemany's Eugen Schellenberg by 11:8 in Hannover.

In the final contest of the friendly encounter Turkey's Feliks Stamm Tournament silver medalist young Muhammet Guner walked over to the victory against Germany's AIBA Youth World Championships silver medalist Eric Brechlin in the super heavyweight class, making the final result of the dual match a 5:5 draw.